Dreamboat

I am a being that sails from dream to dream, inhabiting minds and stimulating them to look towards the right path - to ignore the past - whatever they had done - and strive towards the future. With each dream comes a new challenge: some do not want to accept the truth, others do not understand what they see, and so on. It is my job to show them a way when all else is lost.

Through a white mist, I prepared myself for a sense of change - I change form to suit the thoughts of the beholder. However, I arrived as myself, but instead garnished with wooden carvings and flags depicting crossbones. My inhabitant was a very unusual one - the most peculiar as I can recall through my entire time. I was in the mechanical mind of a fox - a pirate fox. Who also happened to be an animatronic pirate fox. I wondered why such a character would need any kind of guidance. Then, I saw what really the problem with him was. In an instant, a flash of his past shot by me. Teeth penetrating skin. The taste of human flesh and blood. The anger. A shriek of pain. And then a thud as the human hit the floor.

Such a strange haunting. I thought. Suddenly, I felt footsteps upon my deck. I heard the whirr of mechanical joints. I finally saw the creature - he had a tawny red-orange fur, like that of abandoned autumn leaves. Upon him he wore a navy jacket with fastenings and trimmings of gold. Like most pirate figures, he had an eye patch, a hook, and a captain's hat. He matched the perfect description. I only watched how he behaved - how he moved - to help me find a way to show him his message.

In his paws, he held a hat. Sorrowfully, he looked down at it with such pain that I instantly felt connected to him. Something must have happened to someone there, for no one else stood upon me, or sat above in the crow's nest. From the darkness of the sky to the darkness of the sea, there was no other soul to consolidate with. Alone on a vast ocean of continuous dreaming. He closed his eyes, as a drop of oil slid down his cheek and fell upon me.

His voice was raspy and faint with sadness, but he said, "My dear friend. Forever have ye been by me. No one has been quite like ye - happy, friendly, fun. As everyone has been lost to the sea, I will forever hold ye in my heart. Ye leave me a lonely fox. And it be deserving. For I have done many a terrible thing. And now I be alone, I can finally see myself as what I am, not the brave and smart fox ye always said I were. Thank you for blessing me, Bonnie…"

Slowly, he released his grip on the hat, letting it drift away into the skies, his heart and soul following it. And then the Fox sat on the deck, holding his intact paw against his face, as he stared out to the endless ocean beyond.

I felt awful intruding on such a personal dream. But he seemed to be harsh on himself - possibly in real life, also. He knocked his hook against his ear, before scratching its blunt end along the deck.

"I be cursed!" he yelled at himself, "I always be so. Anyone who cares about me gets punished!"

Surely that couldn't be so. He clearly was agitated with himself - didn't like himself, or his past. His message was urgently needed to be given to him, before this dream controlled his normal life. And then he did something stupid. But I had no idea how to save him from himself.

And then the idea struck. He was alone. So send a vision. A spirit - anything - to tell him. Thinking hard, I conjured the image of a wolf animatronic: female; of a normal height. She was leaf green and had orange details, while around her neck and behind her ear she wore bows, which were both coloured royal purple. In her paw (for some reason) she held a rose - perhaps meaning she was delicate and beautiful, but had a sharper, darker side to her. I didn't know myself. These images usually were held by the inhabitant themselves. Maybe it was someone he knew. Either way, it was worth a try.

Elegantly, she stepped out of the shadows. She was an image - translucent. She would do her job no doubt.

"Foxy…" she spoke, "you musn't blame yourself…"

"How can I not…" he said, not looking that way.

She sighed, "You must put behind you what you did."

"I never should have done it in the first place! Now I pay the price."

"We care about you…"

"I don't even know who ye are. But it doesn't concern ye." he said, finally looking at her.

"I am here for you. To tell you that you must put the past behind you. We all make mistakes. Even me…"

He looked in amazement at her. He had no understanding whatsoever of her, but he seemed intrigued all the same.

"Look towards the future, Foxy. For you never know what is yet to come."

She smiled softly, before saying, "I look forward to meeting you in person…"

"Wait!" he exclaimed, make a start towards her. It was hopeless. Once a spirit had said what was needed, they'd fade away into nothingness, and never to be seen again. But this encounter seemed different. She seemed to know she would come to him in consciousness. I could only wait and see. He stared at the place where she had been, letting it all sink in, and panting for breath, before it all suddenly fell away. And his dream was ended. It was time for me to go in search for a new dream, to show someone else they were important, no matter what happened. I knew that myself. For I'd been told the same thing, much time ago. He reminded me of myself. However, I'd be foolish enough to believe my demons, and therefore I shunned the light. I turned to the dark for my only safety. And I was ruled by it. I now have to suffer what I did to my subjects, and I wasn't going to let him go through the same thing as I. I only had 6 saviours, who carried much talent, to my freedom. I would be his freedom.

For I'm not really a boat, of course. I am a princess of the night, who can traverse through the world of sleep. My name is Luna. And I'm an alicorn.